Article by Larry Jock
You can feel the excitement in the area as offshore boats started to prepare for this week’s White Marlin Open. The tournament will see 9 more boats competing, with 262 registered as of Monday morning. Best of luck to all participants.
We will start this report with action at the “Ditch” next to Harpoon Hanna’s in Fenwick. Anglers have been pounding the red and black drum all season, and it looks like the end is nowhere in sight.
At Hook’em & Cook’em in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that there is an enormous variety of fish for the taking for anglers fishing in the Indian River Inlet. Right now, anglers have their choice of flounder, bluefish, weakfish, stripers, red drum, black drum and triggerfish.
Flounder fishing has been good with anglers fishing near the Coast Guard Station having the best chance of landing a keeper. White or chartreuse Gulp! Swimming Mullets in the larger 5” and 6” size have been doing the trick. If you can cast net yourself some mullet, that seems to be the best live bait to use right now. Unfortunately, they have been tough to catch, so you will have trouble finding them in local tackle shops.
There has been a good run of bluefish in the 2 to 4 lb. range. Bluefish will attack almost anything, so anglers have been having luck tossing bucktails, Gotcha plugs, shads and the kitchen sink at these toothy critters.
Fishing at night in the Inlet has been spotty, but anglers have been able to pick-up a few small stripers and bluefish along the rocks.
Speaking of rocks, jetty jockies haven’t been able to fish off the North Jetty due to dredging activities. Like always, our esteemed government has picked a great time to limit access to prime fishing areas. We are not sure how long this will go on, but we will try to keep you posted on the latest activities.
Those frustrated with flounder fishing in the Inlet and bays have started to venture out to ocean structure and have returned with some super catches. The area around “B” Buoy has been producing some solid catches of flounder and even some small croaker in the 8 to 12-inch range. The bite hasn’t been red hot for flounder, but when things turn on you can come back with a cooler full (see Joe Morris’ report that follows). Anglers fishing Site 10 have had trouble catching anything, so many are venturing to Site 11 in search of doormats.
The head boats out of the Indian River Marina have reported inconsistent fishing and it was a slow weekend for most.
Further north, Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that decent catches of flounder came in from both the ocean and the Delaware Bay during the past week. Captain Brent Wiest on the charter boat, “Katydid” worked rough bottom of the Old Grounds and Site 11 for good fluke action. On Sunday, his guys returned with 15 keepers and on Monday they ended up with 13 flatties including Hang Soo’s pair weighing 5.5 and 5.6 pounds. On Wednesday, Brent’s group scored a boat limit of 32 flatfish, including Ron Mistretta’s 7.72 pound doormat. Mike Schreiber checked in with his personal best fluke, a 5.8 pounder caught at Site 11 on Friday. Wayne Demarco had his limit of flatties to 5.34 pounds while bouncing bucktails tipped with smelts near Site 11 Saturday afternoon.
Delaware Bay reef sites 5, 6, 7 and 8 yielded flounder last week. Joe Shaffer and his family joined Captain Carey on the “Grizzly” on Saturday for some pile hopping to take home 16 flounder, triggerfish, sea bass and all the croakers they wanted. Captain Les and his crew aboard the “Martha Marie” worked reef rubble on Saturday for 11 keeper flatties, triggers and a bunch of hardheads. Captain Brian positioned the charter boat, “Lil’ Angler II” over a wreck on Saturday for a good catch of big croakers, weighing up to 2 pounds, porgies and triggerfish. Steve Friend brought in a 6.01 pound flounder he caught in the Roosevelt Inlet while using Gulp! artificial baits.
The Roosevelt Inlet, Lewes Canal and the Broadkill River also gave up plenty of spot and croakers.
Those seeking stripers in the Lewes Canal have had success using live spot for bait. Emily Wilber had her limit of two 25-inch slot bass from the Canal on live spot.
The bottomfish bonanza continues in the Delaware Bay with loads of croakers, spot, kingfish, blowfish and small trout along the Ferry Jetty and rock breakwaters, and also around the reef sites.
Triggerfish roamed the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers and could be tempted with sand fleas, bits of shrimp or clam, or a small chunk of pink Gulp! A few spadefish and sheepshead hung out in the same spots. Tog were there too, but a little temperamental in warm water, only biting during certain parts of the tide.
There was quite a bit of offshore buzz, with the White Marlin Open happening this week. Scattered reports of billfish came from the various Canyons. Hank Draper released a nice white marlin in 725 fathoms of the Poor Man’s on Saturday.
The tuna bite continued to be good in the Washington Canyon. The majority of yellowfins are in the 27 to 30-inch range, but 40 to 50 pounders mingled with the BLTs for a nice mix. Boats rigged with green sticks offering an enticing presentation of baits have recorded the most impressive catches. Creative crews have also been catching with outrigger dangler rigs that mimic the green stick presentation. Small plastic squids have been hot since they imitate most of what tuna in the area have been feeding on. Cedar plugs, Zukers and Drone spoons were also effective when pulled on flatlines. Scott Stapleford and friends fished the Washington Canyon on Wednesday and caught over 30 yellowfins, pulling single 6-inch squids. They culled a limit of tunas weighing up to 50 pounds from the many they fought that day. Jason Massey, Matt and Wil Weidman and Drew Stuchlik overnighted on Tuesday in the Washington Canyon. Jason said the Canyon was full of life with squid and tinkers in the lights all around the boat. They caught more than 35 tuna during a wild bite. They put their dozen fish limit in the box and had a blast releasing the others, some hooked on light spinning gear. The majority were in the 30-inch range, but the boys did have four between 50 and 55 pounds. Bill Swords and his buddies on “Swords Fish” worked the Baltimore Canyon on Wednesday, where Frank Cilinski captured a 41.3 pound wahoo. The guys also bailed 41 mahi off some floating stuff and dropped to the bottom for 8 golden tilefish weighing up to 20 pounds. A number of bigeyes were reportedly caught in the Wilmington Canyon on Saturday.
In the surf, it’s the same old summer story. Anglers are catching spot, small croakers, kingfish, big stingrays and some sand sharks. Every now and then someone will hook a flounder or a bluefish, but most coolers have been filled with panfish.
The next tournament on the schedule is the Poor Girl’s Open down at Bahia Marina in Ocean City, MD. This is the largest women’s billfish tournament in the world, and a very exciting one for both participants and spectators. If you are interested in fishing the Poor Girl’s and need more information, you can give them a call at 410-289-7473.
Until next week, tight lines!
